A Framework for Assessing Conservation and Development in a Congo Basin Forest Landscape

Abstract

An integrated framework for assessing conservation and development changes at the scale of a large forest landscape in the Congo Basin is described. The framework allows stakeholders to assess progress in achieving the often conflicting objectives of alleviating poverty and conserving global environmental values. The study shows that there was little change in either livelihood or conservation indicators over the period 2006 to 2008, and that the activities of conservation organizations had only modest impacts on either. The global economic down-turn in 2008 had immediate negative consequences for both local livelihoods and for biodiversity as people lost their employment in the cash economy and reverted to illegal harvesting of forest products. Weakness of institutions, and corruption were the major obstacles to achieving either conservation or development objectives. External economic changes had more impact on this forest landscape than either the negative or positive interventions of local actors.

The Multiple Dimensions of Rural Forests: Lessons from a Comparative Analysis

“…As far as we know, it's the first time that such diverse situations as tropical, temperate and semiarid forests from developing and developed countries were brought together in a common analytical grid. Other studies emphasized comparisons of particular types of forests, including mainly tropical forests (Michon et al 2007 Endamana et al 2010). These studies provided useful conceptual and methodological indications for our own work.…”

The Role of Citizen Science in Landscape and Seascape Approaches to Integrating Conservation and Development

“…Production foresters and protected area managers in the Sangha Tri-National landscape have divergent views on desirable management interventions. Production foresters point to the biodiversity richness of forests subject to careful logging and, hence, providing values at a landscape scale [31]. In all of these cases the involvement of citizens at various levels is enriching the knowledge base required for management decisions.…”

“…The citizens engaged in this science compiled data and accumulated evidence that supported the case that micro-interventions were less effective in achieving conservation and development outcomes than larger scale initiatives [31,34,35]. The stakeholder forum included both local citizens of both local Bantu groups and the Baka Pygmies who inhabit the forests, together with representatives of the aid agencies and conservation organisations active in the landscape.…”

“…Indicators for both environmental and local livelihood values were identified by the different stakeholders in the landscape-these indicators allowed progress towards achieving the desired landscapes to be monitored. The indicators were assessed annually by local people and multistakeholder fora were held to discuss progress and assess the ways in which conservation and development interventions and external factors had impacted on landscape change [31].…”

“…Several international conservation organisations are active in the landscape and all aspire to achieve improved livelihoods for local people and to conserve the rich biodiversity of the forests. In 2002 a process was initiated to engage local stakeholders in the scientific monitoring of changes in the environment and in local livelihoods [31]. A range of participatory tools were used to enable local people to identify future landscape scenarios that they believed would meet their livelihood needs and conserve biodiversity [32].…”